The present invention relates to an analyzer system, and particularly to an analyzer system suitable for transferring a sample rack to a plurality of analyzer units though a transfer line, and analyzing and processing designated analysis items for a plurality of samples.
A multiple-sample analyzer system is known, in which a sample rack containing body fluid samples such as blood and urine is transferred to a plurality of analyzer units through a transfer line in order to inspect and analyze the body fluid samples.
As for the prior art, an automated analyzer system is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.62-271164. In the automated analyzer system, two or three kinds of analyzer units are arranged along a circulating transfer line composed of a belt conveyer. A transferred sample rack is identified with a bar code reader, and stopped in front of a designated analyzer unit to pipette a sample fluid into the analyzer unit. After that, the sample rack is transferred to the next analyzer unit to pipette the sample into the next analyzer unit, and finally the sample rack is returned to a stock yard.
Another analyzer system is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.2-25755. The analyzer system comprises a plurality of reaction units having different analysis functions arranged along a main transfer line, and a by-pass line for accepting a sample rack from the transfer line to a sampling position of the individual reaction unit to pipette the sample from the by-pass line to the reaction unit. In this analyzer system, a sample container containing a sample has a bar code label indicating the ID (identification) information, and a sample rack containing a plurality of sample containers also has a bar code label. The ID information of the sample on the sample rack transferred on the main transfer line is read out and a reaction unit corresponding to the sample is determined. In case that the designated reaction unit is occupied for sampling another sample, the sample rack is transferred back again to the upper stream of the main transfer line through the return transfer line. This cyclic operation is repeated until the designated reaction unit becomes empty.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.63-271164, the biochemical analysis of the sample by an analyzer unit is implicated, but there is no definite description on how to deal with the analysis item and the reagent to be used. In the analyzer system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-25755, as the system is configured so that the individual analysis units may have their own distinctive functions, the individual analysis item is processed by its own specific analysis unit. Therefore, a sample having an analysis item requested by a large number of samples has to wait for completion of analyzing the preceding samples for a longer time than the samples with another analysis item requested by a small number of samples, and consequently, it takes a long time for those samples to obtain the analysis data.
An object of the present invention is to provide a multiple sample analyzer system which enables an efficient analysis operation even for the analysis item which is requested by a large number of samples, and enables an automated analysis operation without interrupting the analysis operation for the analysis item for which the reagent fluid is short while the analyzer unit is operated.
The present invention is applied to an analyzer system comprising a transfer line for transferring a sample rack from a rack providing portion to a rack storage portion, and a plurality of analyzer units each having a reaction unit, a sample pipetting unit for pipetting a sample on the sample rack into the reaction unit, and a reagent supply unit for supplying a reagent corresponding to an analysis item to the reaction unit, the plurality of analyzer units being arranged along the transfer line, and a large number of samples being inspected and analyzed using the plurality of analyzer units. In the present invention, an analysis-item corresponding reagent used for the same kind of designated analysis item is allocated to a designated analyzer unit and another analyzer unit of the plurality of analyzer units, respectively, and the above designated analysis item is processed by the designated analyzer unit. A control unit judges whether the amount of the above described analysis-item corresponding reagent is short or not in accompanying the consumption of this analysis-item corresponding reagent in the designated analyzer unit. In case that the amount of the analysis-item corresponding reagent is short, a sample rack having a sample specified to be analyzed with the designated analysis item is transferred to the another analyzer unit through the transfer line to analyze the designated analysis item for the sample using the another analyzer unit.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the designated analyzer unit is determined automatically by the control unit, or the priority order for the usage of the analyzer unit is determined by an operator through the operating unit. In case of specifying the designated unit automatically, based on the read-out result of the identification information labeled on the sample rack or the sample container, the control unit judges which analyzer unit can process the specified analysis item when the sample rack is transferred by the transfer line, and the sample rack containing the sample for which the above described designated analysis item to be processed is transferred to the analyzer unit selected based on the above described judgment result through the transfer line. In this case, an analyzer unit which contains the least number of samples waiting for the inspection operation is selected by the control unit out from the plurality of analyzer units which enable the analysis operation for the specified analysis item.
In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, as for the above described analysis-item specific reagent contained in the specified analyzer unit, the control unit judges whether the number of remaining possible inspection operations decreasing along with the repetitive pipetting operations reaches a designated value, and based on the judged result, the control unit interrupts the analysis operation function for the designated analysis item in the specified analyzer unit and dispatches the analysis operation function for the designated analysis item to another analyzer unit. Before the analysis operation of the sample, the specified analyzer unit and the another analyzer unit calibrate their individual measurement light beams, and the calibration results for the measurement light beams, each corresponding to the individual analyzer unit, are stored in a memory unit. Finally the calibration result reflecting the property of the individual reagent bottle is reference for correcting the measurement value for the individual analyzer unit.
Further, a multi-sample analyzer system of the present invention has a function that the control unit judges the classification of the sample loaded in the sample rack, based on the read-out result of the identification information labeled on the sample rack or the sample container when the sample rack is transferred by the main transfer line, and that the sample rack with its analysis operation completed is made to be transferred to the analyzer unit in which the analysis condition is defined for the sample. In addition, the multiple sample analyzer system of the present invention has a means for directing the start-up and shutdown operations for each of plural analyzer units, and the control unit has a function for carrying the sample rack through the transfer line to the analyzer unit excluding the analyzer unit with its operation being suspended.